Social change and community works in rural eMaxesibeni, Alfred Nzo district in the South Africa’s Eastern Cape

Abstract

Rural development in South Africa is lagging despite gaining independence and democracy in 1994. Eastern Cape province is one of the provinces where issues of service delivery, rural development, and corruption are prevalent. For example, the triple challenges such as poverty, unemployment and inequality are still prevalent, especially in rural areas; this is because before democracy, many rural areas were divided into Homelands, and this was because of the colonial laws of segregation that isolated rural communities from the economy of the country. The study focuses on social change and community work in Alfred Nzo District eMaxesibeni. the Alfred Nzo District is one of the most poverty-stricken and poorest rural areas in the Eastern Cape Province. There is a lack of scholarly research on the status of rural development policies and the impact of the development programmes introduced. This thesis research critically analyses the promised social change and the efficacy of the Community Work Programme (CWP) on rural livelihoods, with a particular focus on the agriculture sector, in terms of its contribution to tackling the issues of social change and rural development. The study sought to address how CWP homesteads and communal gardens contribute to social change in the Eastern Cape, eMaxesibeni under Alfred Nzo District, and what the successes and challenges of the CWP agriculture sector in bringing about social change and sustainable development. Previous rural and community development studies have explored and investigated rural development issues and how rural development programmes such as CWP and the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) contribute to issues of unemployment and poverty. From the previous research, it is evident that these development programmes have provided an employment safety net and fought poverty as beneficiaries received stipends; however, there are limited skills development and training for permanent employment should participants want to exit the programmes. Some of the previous studies focused on quantitative data. They failed to engage with beneficiaries of the programmes through interviews where the researcher can gain in-depth information about the programme, and very limited studies have followed several methods of data sources and samples. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the effectiveness of social change projects, which are the CWP agriculture sector and the CWP homestead and communal food gardens contributing to addressing poverty and unemployment and achieving sustainable agriculture development in eMaxesibeni, Alfred Nzo district and to explore the service delivery and factors that hinder the successful implementation of development programmes in the Eastern Cape and develop strategies to achieve the promised social change through CWP gardens projects. The study is significant as the study fills the gap in previous research and also applies three qualitative methods when conducting the study, and also ensures that the beneficiaries, site supervisors and government officials involved in this CWP agriculture sector programme participate in this study. Growing up in the Alfred Nzo district, I witnessed its underdeveloped nature and migration issues due to a lack of opportunities and social change. This experience motivated me to pursue a development studies degree and this research. This background afforded me to critically explore the development programmes implemented for rural livelihood and their contribution. The study is underpinned by the work of the Social Change chair, Gary Minkley, who wrote about the development and social change state of the Eastern Cape and the livelihoods of rural areas. Kate Philip's (development strategist) CWP and rural development work were critical in shaping this study. This study was conducted using a qualitative approach and methods, where a case study design was followed, and data was collected through semi-structured interviews, field observations and the retrieval of archives. I interviewed 02 government officials, 41 beneficiaries of CWP and Five site supervisors. Extensive analyses of government reports, newspaper articles and IDPs were retrieved from archives. Even though obtaining permission from several officials who are the community and programme gatekeepers was challenging, speaking the local language, isiXhosa, worked well for me as it fostered effective communication and established rapport between myself, the gatekeepers, and the participants. One of the main study findings is that the CWP agriculture sector has contributed significantly to fighting absolute poverty, which is perceived as dominant, and most beneficiaries have experienced it. The beneficiaries can now afford to send their children to school, feed their families and care for themselves through the stipend they get. However, the programme is not doing so well in terms of monitoring and evaluation, provision of the inputs, and protection of the beneficiaries, and there is a high level of corruption that is taking place; also, due to stipend issues, the fact that the programme has the minimal number of youth participation, and there are limited activities that are available to attract youth. There is a lack of upskilling of the beneficiaries and site supervisors, such as technical and generic skills, including plumbing, bricklaying, welding, gardening, electrical skills and many more. The findings imply that the policymakers, government officials and other stakeholders must amend or revise the CWP policy implementation to include skills development and training for youth and all beneficiaries to ensure their employability and to foster collaboration with public and private institutions for training provision and future employment. This research will significantly contribute to local and international development programmes that aim to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) One and Two. The study also addressed the literature gap regarding different programmes and agriculture initiatives and their success and failure in addressing rural poverty and development in rural areas such as the Alfred Nzo district.